


Nightfall

by Elveny



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Death, F/M, Grief, Love, Violent Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 08:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17619155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elveny/pseuds/Elveny
Summary: It never was meant to end in happiness.





	Nightfall

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you just need to get all the sadness onto (digital) paper and make the grief tangible.

She felt it before she saw it - the terrible blow, the blood splattering, the stutter that went through the whole world and beyond.

“No!”

The scream was out before she could stop it, echoing through her very being, but at this moment, she couldn’t care less for the looks she got, those of pity or disgust or shock. It wasn’t hard to locate him in the thick of the battle that somehow came to a halt, people retreating from him, giving him a wide berth. She did not know who dealt the blow and in this moment, it didn't matter. Her eyes found him still standing, and suddenly, she was running, stumbling and running again. She didn’t care for how desperate she looked, how frantic and shaken as she blazed a trail through the battlefield to where he stood.

It never should have come to this. There had to have been a moment where they could have turned this away and failed to do so. Could she have done something differently? Could she have been more persuasive, could she have insisted more, had she taken a wrong turn somewhere? Had there been a sign she didn’t see, a road she hadn’t taken, a corner she walked around too early? Had she looked away one time too many?

Her thoughts were a jumbled mess as she raced to him. The fight had come to a halt, warriors parting silently as she pushed through them, anguish on her face and tears in her eyes. He looked down to his hands, pressed over the wound and she could see the blood welling through his fingers and dropping to the ground.

 

_Drop. Drop. Drop._

 

Too much. Too fast. She wiped over her cheek as she reached the edge of the circle that had formed around him. People drew back from him in fear or helplessness as magic crackled in the air, dangerously potent and increasingly uncontrolled. She payed it barely any attention as she raised her hand with the orb without stopping. As she passed through the current, it started to draw towards her as if pulled by an invisible force. Quicker and quicker, a maelstrom of energy and magic, of lightning and ice and veilfire that was sucked into the orb that glowed brighter and brighter in a brilliant, green light.

Just as she reached him, he looked up. Contrary to what she had expected, there was no shock or pain on his face. Instead, he smiled. Maybe it wasn’t too late, she thought desperately, despite the growing puddle of blood beneath him.

The orb dropped to the ground nearly in the same moment as he fell to his knees, a heavy, painful thud. The glow of magic sizzled and vanished and the shadows appeared back, sharper and deeper than before, vanguard to the night that was to come.

“Solas!” she exclaimed, springing to his side and steadying him. He took a pained, wheezing breath, sinking heavily into her arms. Her heart broke as she sank to her knees, unable to keep him upright and hot tears started to run down her cheeks.

“Vhenan,” he whispered and she shook her head, biting back a sob.

“Don’t talk, arasha. It will be alright,” she murmured and immediately started to channel her healing magic into him, feeling it dissipate nearly instantly, drowned out by the still flowing blood gushing out through that horrible wound.

It wouldn’t be alright. She knew it. But she refused to acknowledge it.

Solas weakly held up a hand that was stained with bright, red blood, reaching for her face. Despite the red wetness on his fingers she turned her head into the caress, closing her eyes for a second. She was filthy with blood and mud anyway, marked by the battles they had fought to get here, to get to him. There was wonder in his eyes as if he couldn’t quite believe she was here.

“It will be alright,” she repeated as if she needed to convince herself as well only to fail horribly. Her lower lip was trembling and her broken voice was barely more than a rasped whisper. “I am here.”

“I… I did not think you’d come,” he managed. His eyes never left hers, wonder and love in his gaze.

“Of course I came,” she said through tears. The people around them didn’t matter, not in this moment. She held him close to her body, a desperate, _pleading_ embrace while she was healing him. Was trying to heal him. Trying to give him more time, to give _them_ more time. “I love you. How could I not come?”

Another labored breath and a hint of pain that was gone as quickly as she could detect it.

“Even… after…” he managed to say and she choked back another sob.

“Always,” she nodded, the tears now streaming freely over her face. “I let you into my heart and you became a part of me. I will always love you.”

A sigh and his hand sank down but his eyes never left hers. There was a softness and grief in them she remembered from their most intimate, private moments together. She had seen it both times before he had said goodbye. She whispered his name as if in prayer, begging whoever was listening to grant them more time with each other, just _more_. Her heart beat painfully fast, straining in her efforts to reach more magic to use in her healing efforts. It was a stark, painful contrast to the way his strength was fading quickly.

The painful thump of life within her while his was seeping out, his pulse getting weaker and weaker.

"Don't cry, vhenan. Not for me." His voice was barely audible and she could see the effort it took to speak. 

“I wanted to reach you first. I am so sorry,” she whispered in a broken voice, tapping into the very depths of her power as she tried to heal him quicker than the life flew out of him.

“No, vhenan,” Solas gasped, blood bubbling from the corner of his mouth. “It is I that is sorry.”

 _Ar lath ma,_ his lips formed, his eyes glowing white with power and she felt something surge through her. She gasped but the sensation was gone in just a moment. He went heavy in her arm and with a desperate plea on her lips, she renewed her efforts of healing him, the magic dissolving in her hand without effect.

A breath, shuddering through the air. Then silence that could not be shattered even by her scream.


End file.
